Feb 9, 2012

Team Creates Website To Find Coach A Kidney

A Pitt County basketball team recently surprised their coach with what could possibly be a life-changing website.

Coach William Knight almost passed on DH Conley freshman Olivia Dunn. She was cut from the girl’s JV basketball team at the beginning of the year, but then he changed his mind:

“I invited her back to practice with the team to improve her game, said Knight

The team is now 16 and 3, and Dunn says every day is learning experience.

He teaches us a life lesson – not just basketball – every single practice and he’s so amazing and influential to all of us, said Dunn.

As inspiring as he is, Dunn and her teammates are worried about their coach, who’s been battling chronic kidney disease since 2009 and is on the waiting list for a new kidney.

We want him to get better soon so he’ll be out here coaching us for a long time, said player Morgan Brown.

Knight says family members have offered him their kidneys, but says he’d like his donor to be anonymous.

I don’t want to know who my donor is because I’d hate to see something happen to that person later on down the road, said Knight

To help find that anonymous donor, Dunn and her teammates have taken things into their own hands, creating a website called kidneyforcoach.com where people can e-mail them advice about finding a kidney. The best part about it is Coach Knight had no idea about the website until Tuesday night.

I’m really touched that she’s doing something like this. I didn’t know I had touched all these girls – touched her the way i did.”

The site has already been a success. Two people have e-mailed the team so far:

“A restaurant that’s going to open up in Washington called On the Waterfront is actually talking to us about hosting some way to test for blood and tissue to find a match for a kidney, said Brown.

Dunn says no one is more deserving of a kidney than Coach Knight. He gave her a second chance at making the team, and she’s hoping he’ll get a second chance at life.

A Pitt County basketball team recently surprised their coach with what could possibly be a life-changing website.

Coach William Knight almost passed on DH Conley freshman Olivia Dunn. She was cut from the girl’s JV basketball team at the beginning of the year, but then he changed his mind:

I invited her back to practice with the team to improve her game, said Knight

The team is now 16 and 3, and Dunn says every day is learning experience.

He teaches us a life lesson – not just basketball – every single practice and he’s so amazing and influential to all of us, said Dunn.

As inspiring as he is, Dunn and her teammates are worried about their coach, who’s been battling chronic kidney disease since 2009 and is on the waiting list for a new kidney.

We want him to get better soon so he’ll be out here coaching us for a long time, said player Morgan Brown.

Knight says family members have offered him their kidneys, but says he’d like his donor to be anonymous.

I don’t want to know who my donor is because I’d hate to see something happen to that person later on down the road, said Knight

To help find that anonymous donor, Dunn and her teammates have taken things into their own hands, creating a website called kidneyforcoach.com where people can e-mail them advice about finding a kidney. The best part about it is Coach Knight had no idea about the website until Tuesday night.

I’m really touched that she’s doing something like this. I didn’t know I had touched all these girls – touched her the way i did.”

The site has already been a success. Two people have e-mailed the team so far:

“A restaurant that’s going to open up in Washington called On the Waterfront is actually talking to us about hosting some way to test for blood and tissue to find a match for a kidney, ” said Brown.

Dunn says no one is more deserving of a kidney than Coach Knight. He gave her a second chance at making the team, and she’s hoping he’ll get a second chance at life.